BREAKING: Buhari rejects Electoral Bill 2018

For the fourth time, President Muhammadu Buhari has declined assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2018, this time without giving any reasons.

His senior special assistant on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, told State House correspondents on Friday that the President has communicated his decision to the federal lawmakers.

Enang said the President acted in line with the powers conferred on him by the 1999 Constitution.

The new Electoral Bill, prescribes, among other things, the exclusive use of the Permanent Voters Card and Electronic Card Reader for the 2019 general elections and subsequent polls organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the country.

Many Nigerians, especially the opposition political parties Senate President Bukola Saraki had appealed to the President to sign the bill into law so as to make the country’s electoral process more credible.

The bill would probably have been vetoed by the National Assembly from next week if the President did not hasten to communicate to the lawmakers by Friday of this intention to have a new bill.

The last time Buhari rejected the Electoral Bill, he blamed clerical/typographic errors detected on the document.